PAC urges Punjab govt to halt farmhouse regularisation in Shivalik-Kandi region

The Public Action Committee (PAC), Mattewara, in a representation to the Chief Secretary of Punjab, has urged the state government to immediately halt the attempt to regularise “low-impact housing/farmhouses” in the Shivalik–Kandi region.

PAC stated that the policy is legally untenable, scientifically indefensible, and potentially in contempt of binding Supreme Court directions.

PAC, which has long raised environmental issues in Punjab, warned that the move threatens some of the state’s most unstable terrain, including PLPA-notified and de-notified areas and the periphery of Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary.

The Shivalik system is characterised by unconsolidated geology, steep slopes, and high sediment mobility, where even limited construction can destabilise slopes.

Citing an ongoing proceeding, PAC pointed out that the Supreme Court has affirmed the applicability of the T N Godavarman definition of forest for all states and required the completion of GIS-based identification of all forest and forest-like land under Rule 16(1). This exercise is not yet complete in Punjab.

The court has also clarified that no diversion or fragmentation of forest or forest-like areas is permitted without completing the full Forest Conservation Act (FCA) procedure.

Under this legal framework, PAC stated, no part of the Shivalik or Kandi terrain can be presumed non-forest merely because a local policy labels it “low-impact.”

The representation highlights scientific concerns raised by senior forest officers, noting that construction in similarly fragile terrains in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand has led to slope failures and disasters. The Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) was enacted specifically to protect these unstable formations.

PAC also flagged violations of the PLPA, Forest Conservation Act, Wildlife Protection Act, PRTPDA 1995, and the Periphery Act. It emphasised that approach roads passing through PLPA or forest-like areas would constitute non-forest use and require prior approval from the Central Government under the FCA.

PAC demanded that the policy be suspended until Rule-16 mapping is completed and made public, and that all construction permissions in the Kandi belt be frozen pending scientific appraisal.

The representation has been sent to the PMO, MoEFCC, the Governor of Punjab, the Chief Minister’s Office, SEIAA Punjab, and other authorities.